April 11, 2020

The coronavirus is killing disproportionately African Americans - in some areas they comprise 70% of deaths. Most of the people dying have underlying conditions like obesity or diabetes which disproportionately affect African Americans. These diseases also affect poor whites. If they did a socioeconomic analysis, they would probably find that coronavirus deaths are disproportionately affecting poor people who are disproportionately African American. Why are poor people disproportionately affected by diabetes and obesity? Probably because of their diets. Fast food is basically junk food, and poor people eat more junk food than people in wealthier socioeconomic classes because it is much less expensive, and it tastes good. It's advertised on TV to a greater extent as well. How many ads are there for organic fruits and vegetables compared to how many ads for Big Macs, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Dominoes Pizza?

Healthy diets and exercise are two things that are luxuries for most poor people. Food that tastes good usually has a lot of fat, salt and sugar, and those ingredients presage poor outcomes for diabetes and obesity. Children aren't taught in school anything about nutritional or financial literacy. When they grow up, they are at the mercy of fast food ads and payday lenders. The food industry, till the coronavirus hit, was shipping a larger volume of food dollar wise to restaurants than it was to grocery markets. Now that restaurants are closed, there is more demand for food at grocery stores and less demand for food at restaurants, but it takes awhile before the supply chain readjusts. That's why some stores are empty leading to food hoarding. There is plenty of food in the supply chain; it just has to be redirected from restaurants to grocery stores.

However, fast food places are still open for take out, and many people will continue their habits of consuming cheap, good tasting unnutritious junk food. This is the underlying cause of diabetes and obesity which disproportionately affects poor people, many of whom are black. For the last year, retail sales at US eating and drinking establishments have outrun those of grocery stores, upending a longstanding pattern in which the bulk of American spending on food occurred at the supermarket. Many two earner families don't have time to cook. More and more a stay at home wife who does the cooking is becoming a luxury poor people cannot afford. Thus the increase of fast food that is consumed.

This is contributing to the epidemic of obesity that is taking place all over the world. In addition to the extra doses of fat, sugar and salt, fast food contains larger amounts of impurities due to the fact that it is mostly GMO food which, when in the field, has been sprayed with herbicides and pesticides. Undoubtedly, these contaminants are also found in the consumable items as well as preservatives and artificial colorings and taste enhancers. A healthy diet would consist of organic fruits and vegetables, but these are more expensive and out of reach for most poor people. Meats too are loaded with artificial ingredients as most animals are fed antibiotics to make them grow heavier sooner which is more profitable for the meat producer.

So it is no wonder that most of the people dying from the coronavirus are black people who are disproportionately poor and have disproportionately unhealthy diets, diets consisting of fast food which is tastier and cheaper than more nutritious foods.

Whether you're in London or Lubbock, a Big Mac is a Big Mac, right? Well, not exactly. Fast food chains serve up a very different amount of salt in their foods depending on where they're operating.

Researchers studied nutrition information from McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Domino's, Pizza Hut and Subway in six different countries. They found that restaurants in the U.S. served saltier burgers, subs, pizza and chicken nuggets than those same outlets in the U.K.